Quam heeds Piper's call

Will focus on health care, energy investments

Lois Quam, a top executive at health care giant UnitedHealth Group is leaving to take up a newly-created post at a company a fraction of the size - Minneapolis-based investment bank Piper Jaffray Cos.

Though she ran a multibillion-dollar business unit at UnitedHealth, Quam won't be taking one of the top jobs at Piper. Instead, she'll be managing director of alternative investments within Piper's private capital group, which manages money for institutions such as colleges and endowments, to boost investments in health care and alternative energy, the company said Tuesday.

Business observers were surprised at the move.

"I am sure it took a great deal of effort on the part of (Piper CEO) Andrew Duff and his team to show Lois how this would all fit," said Christopher Puto, dean of the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.

Last year, UnitedHealth's soaring fortunes were clouded by a stock-option backdating scandal that eventually led the company's longtime CEO William McGuire to quit. As one of UnitedHealth's top executives, Quam was granted millions of dollars worth of stock options during her tenure, but has not been named among those responsible for the backdating.

Quam said her decision to leave the company had nothing to do with recent troubles at UnitedHealth. Instead, she said her new role gives her a chance to make a difference on issues she cares about.

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"I'll have the opportunity to build a business there and help them grow and diversify and seek answers to two of the most pressing issues of our time - sustainable energy to prevent climate change and better health care," Quam said in an interview.

The position change also gives Quam a chance to feed her entrepreneurial spirit. When she joined UnitedHealth in 1989, the company reported revenue of only about $400 million. Today it is the largest public company in the state with $71 billion in revenue.

By contrast, at the end of 2006, Piper Jaffray reported just more than $500 million in revenue. "She'll probably have a lot of control and the freedom and autonomy to set direction herself," said Alfred Marcus, professor of strategic management and organization at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "She'll be less constrained than in a larger company or bureaucracy," he added.

Puto said Quam's experience inside UnitedHealth would help attract more institutional money to the Piper. "It's got to give Piper more second looks or even first looks than they would not necessarily have gotten before."

As Quam's responsibilities at UnitedHealth grew, so did her profile in the health care industry. She has been on Fortune magazine's list of the 50 most powerful women in business for the past four years, ranking No. 24 last year.

"Lois Quam is one of the smartest female executives in the U.S. today," said Tom Daschle, former U.S. Senator from South Dakota, who met her when she was working on Hillary Clinton's health care task force in the early 1990s. "She's very business-savvy but in addition, she has a very enviable business network of people with whom she works and deals across country."

Quam's political network is formidable too, especially in Democratic political circles. While still in her 20s, she chaired a legislative commission on health care access, then took a leave from UnitedHealth to work with Clinton at the White House. She is married to Matt Entenza, former minority leader for the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Nicole Garrison-Sprenger can be reached at 651-228-5580 or ngarrisonsprenger@pioneerpress.com.